Monday, June 18, 2012

Hiking in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee is AWESOME.... There is SO much to see!! You might see some crazy people wearing matching t-shirts, hiking in the rain!!!!! (Wonder who??) OR--you might see some other neat hikers! OR---you may see some gorgeous cascades and/or waterfalls. OR---maybe you'll see some wildlife ---like a BEAR!!!! Hmmmmm....

Today I'll share with you some things which we saw while hiking next to the Little River, above the Elkmont Campground, on a RAINY day on May 22, 2012.

The picture above shows that you may see some gorgeous little WILDFLOWERS. We saw several different ones along the way. These look like little WILD ROSES.

You may see a big boulder filled with HOLES.... What's up with that????? Think that could be where a woodpecker sharpens his beak????? Nah---don't think so!!!! ha

You can see lots of MOSS and FERNS!!! Some of the rocks were completely covered with moss. Everything was so lush and so green... Gorgeous!

OR if you look closely, you can see a WHALE!!!! (Go with me here and put on your Imagination Caps!!!)

Maybe you can see some GRASS growing on top of ROCKS..... Goodness, we have a hard time getting grass to grow in some of the spots in our yard... How does it grow on top of ROCKS??????? Mercy Me!

There is a beautiful WINDOW in these rocks... Maybe I should buy some curtains... What do you think??? (It's really two fish kissing each other!!!!! ha ha )

Wanna count the rocks down in this river???? Isn't it amazing how CLEAR that water is? WOW!!!!!

Finally, you really need to use your imagination here..... I see a TURTLE next to a very skinny ALLIGATOR... Can you see them???? HINT: The alligator is BROWN. The turtle is right next to the gator ---to the right, with his head on the gator's back!!!!! REMEMBER: Use your imaginations!!!!!

Now ---can you believe what all one can see while hiking in the Smokies????? Isn't it fun?? Do you 'see'???? all kinds of wonderful things when you are hiking???? It's just so much fun being out in nature ---even when it rains!!!!

Hope you had a great Father's Day yesterday. That day is always a little sad for me since I miss my Daddy so much. He's been gone since 1969---but he was so very special to me... HOWEVER, George and I did celebrate Father's Day by going out to dinner at the state park restaurant here. YUM!!!!

Friday, June 8, 2012

On May 22nd, George and I went hiking in the Smokies. We went on a 4.3 mile hike to Huskey Branch Falls ---near the Elkmont Campground. I have teased you with a couple of posts from that day. If you missed the last post, click HERE to see it.

Today, I will show you another set of photos from that RAINY day.... We got about a third of the way up the mountain when the skies opened up... Luckily, we did have our nifty rain jackets on --which helped keep 'part' of us dry --including our cameras. BUT--the bottom half of us got VERY wet ---and muddy!!!!!

However, we never let a little rain stop us from hiking... (Sometimes, it seems as if rain follows us around when we are hiking!!!! ha) We kept on walking --and even though we were EXTREMELY wet, we enjoyed our day... As you can imagine, I turn into a little child when I can splash around in the mud puddles!!!!!!

WELL---here are more of our photos. Above is a picture of the gorgeous Little River as the rain began to come down hard.... It was hard pulling the cameras out of our jackets and clicking a picture quickly --so that the camera could go back into the jacket...

Thought you might want to see a picture of our path that day... This is a great hike since we do go up in elevation --but it's gradual!!!!!! The path follows the Little River --as we hike up the mountain.

George took this picture of me on the path... I'm glad this was not a 'cold' rain... AND--we did have a little protection under the trees along the way.

Here's another of my "Swirling Water" photos... I really love seeing the water pour down that mountain in all sorts of directions... The farther one hikes up that mountain, the larger the boulders in the river are... SO GORGEOUS---even in the rain!!!!

I love this picture of George. He's still smiling even though he looks like a drowned rat!!!! He wanted to take pictures ---but as long as it was raining hard, he kept his camera hidden.

Thanks to a good blog friend, we now know that camera sleeves can be ordered to keep a camera dry in this kind of weather. We have already checked them out ---and I'm sure they will be ordered soon!!!!!!

I must share one more of George's 'silky' water photos ---which he was able to take before the rain got heavy.

We finally made it to Huskey Branch Falls---and the rain quit for a few minutes for us to take some photos... In fact, George was able to climb up to the side of the falls to get this great picture of the top which cannot be seen from the trail. Isn't this a beautiful waterfall in the mountains--even on a RAINY day???

Here is a picture I took of the waterfall as it traveled on down the mountain. I took this picture from the path, whereas George took the one above near the top of this part... Like I said, Huskey Branch Falls is a beautiful little waterfall.

Finally, since the rain had stopped (temporarily) ---we were able to get some pictures of us at Huskey Branch Falls with our tripod.... You can see how wet our jackets are---but they did keep us fairly dry---on TOP!!!!!

I have one (maybe two) more sets of pictures to share from this hike---but hope you enjoyed seeing a couple of crazy OLD people ---out playing in the rain!!!! Can you hear us singing: "Singin' (Hikin') in the Rain" ?????? OR---"Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head..." SO MUCH FUN!

The hardest part of the entire trip was going home in the car with wet pants and wet shoes and socks... We had to have the heater on in the car --in order to keep from chilling.. It felt so good to get home and take off those wet clothes!!!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

George and I took our last hiking trip to the Smokies for awhile... (We stay away from that area during the tourist season as much as possible--due to the traffic and large amounts of people around.) We had to go to Knoxville for regular Toyota maintenance early on Tuesday, May 21, so we just drove the extra distance and went on a 4.3 mile hike.

This time, we first stopped off at the Foothills Parkway for some pictures of these beautiful mountains before heading on for our hiking trip near Elkmont to Huskey Branch Falls. Today will be the first set of the pictures from that trip... Hope you enjoy them!!! Be sure to enlarge them for bigger pictures.

The picture above was taken from the Foothills Parkway near Townsend. OH how I love these beautiful mountains!!!!! NOTE those threatening skies... Hmmmmmmm---wonder what that means??????????

George took this photo of me at one of the overlooks on the Foothills Parkway... As you can see, I was happy to be there!!!!

Now we are on the path to Huskey Branch Falls... We followed the Little River (shown above) all of the way up the mountain. This is a fabulous area of the Smokies --and provided us with many photo opportunities. The last time we were in the Smokies, the leaves were still not on the trees ---so it was great seeing all of the beautiful new Spring growth.

Here's another picture of me enjoying the Little River. Since the weather was 'threatening'--we decided to wear our jackets on the trail. Am I ever glad that we did!!!!!! ha..... Note also that I'm wearing my camera vest ---which is wonderful. The camera is always right there in front of me, but I don't have to carry it, or struggle with it bobbing back and forth when I walk!!!!! If you don't have a Camera Vest (or wear a backpack like hubby does), then I highly recommend this!

Here's a picture of George doing what he loves ----taking pictures using his tripod and his new filter......

This is a picture of the type of photos George is getting using the new filter... I think they are truly AWESOME... He can make the water turn to SILK....

Here's one of my 'creative' shots --without tripod and fancy lens.... BUT--I think it turned out pretty good anyhow. I call it "Swirling Water"...

Finally, here is a picture we took of us at the Little River, using the tripod... Oh how we love being in the Smokies!!!! More pictures to come of this 'memorable' hiking experience.....

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. We did --although it was HOT here (hotter than it usually is this time of year up here on the Cumberland Plateau).. We got some yard work done and cooked some steaks on the grill on Monday!!!!

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About Me

Welcome to my blog. Hubby and I are retired and live in beautiful Fairfield Glade on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. We enjoy Traveling, Hiking, Searching for Waterfalls, Gardening (especially flowers including our ROSES); and I love my Backyard Birds and also working on Family History. Hope you enjoy my blog!